Tunnel construction.



D. D. McBEAN.

TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED MAYZI, I914.

Patented Aug. 1915.

6 SHEETSSHEET I.

D. D. McBEAN.

TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION men mAvzr. 1914.

\ Patented Aug. 31 1915.

6 SHEETS SHEET 2.

D. D. McBEAN.

TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED MAY27| 1914.

1,151,958. PatentedAug. 31, 1915.

6 SHEETSSHE.ET-3.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0..wAsmNuTON. n. c.

D. D. McBEAN.

TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27. 1914.

Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

6 SHEETSSHEET 5.

D. D. McBEAN.

TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 27. 1914.

Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

6 SHEETSSHEET 6.

if wtozwz- S 6 "WP M COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH CO, wAsl j'limTON. D- C.

. side of the sheeting above the 'bottom level of the structure that is being lowered, and

DuNoAN I). Me EAnorNEw YORK, N. Y. 7

runner, CONSTRUCTION.

Application filed May 27, 1914. Serial No. 841,228.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, DUNCAN D. MoBEAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tunnel Construction, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. i

This invention is an improvement in methods of unwatering and excavating material below water level in the installation and construction of structures, such as tunnels and sewers, that are built above or on the water level, or the surface of the material to be excavated, and for lowering the same intoplace step by step as the material beneath them is removed. 7 V

The improvements are also applicable to the excavationbelow water level of material for the erection of such structures as drydocks, and for the deepening of river andchannel bottoms, but in the present application the invention disclosed and cleaimed is concerned only with and will be described as applied to the construction and installation of tunnels and sewers.

. The inventlon sub ect of my present appllcatlon involves novel methods whereby 1n excavating through water-bearing material,

either on shore or in river or channel bottom,

the hydrostatic pressure on the outside of a the sheeting which I place upon the banks,

on the sides and ends of an excavation, is

neutralized or equalized by the provision of;

the same hydrostatic pressure against the inwhereby there will be provided on the inside of the sheeting which is below the level of the bottom of the structure, a'body of air under sufiicient pressure to equal the hydrostatic pressure that exists against the outside of that part of the sheeting, thereby preventing the water, quicksand and other flowing materials from'enterlng'the excavated space from under the sheeting, and

thereby reducing the pressure on the outside of the sheeting to that due to the difference, "between the weight. of earth and that of.

9 water.

My invention further resides in novel methods whereby structures, such as lengths of tunnel or sewer built atthe surface of the water may be expeditiously and economi-.. cally sunk intoplace through water-bearing 5, material on shore or in river bot tonnand lessen the friction between it and the banks Specification of was ratent. Patented Aug. 31, 1915.

while it is being lowered, although the structure, is used as a support for the banks.

F lnally, my invention involves such methods as shall provide forthe floating of the structure after it has been sunk to the requ1red depth, whereby it is free to be moved 7 into the exact grade and alinement required. In the accompanylng drawings I have lllustrated my improved construction and the methods or processes by which it is in in the process of lowering it to the desired the conditions and relations of the tunnel and its appurtenances after a certain amount of excavation has been accomplished. Fig.

' level. Fig. 2 is a similar section showing 5 3 is a similar, view showing the end of a tunnel section after some of its appurtenances have been removed and in condition to receive the end of the next adjacent structure. Fig. 4 1s a horizontal sectional plan showing the arrangement of sheeting surrounding the structure and the intermediate devices employed therewith. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail illustrating the same features. Fig; 6'is an enlarged detail ofthe section of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a detail view of the sheeting, showing the means of 1 joining the sections of the same. Fig. Sis an enlarged sectional detail of the joint between the beams and planking ofdifferent sections. .Fig. 9. is a view, partly in elevation, and partly in section, illustrating the method of adding a new section of tunnelto one alreadyin place. Fig. 10 is a horizontal section of the same. Fig. 11 is an enlarged detail showing the means for uniting two sections. Fig. 12 is a cross-section showing a completed section before all of the sheeting andsupports are removed.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

The tunnel structure may consist of one or more tubes and may be built at any con venient point in the desired lengths, whlch may be two hundred feet or more, and floated or carried to the place where t is to be sunk inplace. It is composed of iron or steel up- .rights 1 and transverse roof and floor beams 2, 3, all securedv together to form a skeleton frame. To theouts i'de ofeach of the steel uprights l Onlthe e e r of the structllrey there is bolted a vertical plank to which horizontal tongued and grooved water tight planks 4 are pinned with maple pins, thus forming a water proofing which incloses the sides of the skeleton frame. The spaces between the steel uprightsand the transverse roof beams, are filled solid with c0ncrete.5.'

. 9 for the purposes which will hereinafter appear. Through stuffing boxes in the temporary floor 4 there extend cylindrical steel piles 10 and the pipes of a mud or sand pump 11. Otherwise each section of tunnel is'inclosed on allsides, the ends being closed by temporary bulk-heads 12 in order to make the structure water-tight.

The method of installing a single section of tunnel thus constructed is as follows: I- beams or columns 13 of a length sufiicient to extend from the top to near the bottom of the structure are placed vertically. at intervals along the sides and ends of the same and secured in position to the upright beams 1 by bolts passing through their inner flanges,.the space, if any exist, between the inside fflangesof the vertical column 13 and the sides of the structure, being filled with timber or metalplates. A second set of very much heavier Ibeams or columns 14 of a length sufficient to extend from near the level of the bottom of the structure to about one foot above its roofor top, areplaced verti- 24 as shown in detail inEigs. 5 and '6fandcally outside .of and opposite to the inner beams l3 with a space of a few inches between the two which is maintained by wedges 15 and braces 34 placed between them at intervais of a few feet of their. height. These outside beams 14 are held in place by bolts 16 passing through the outer flanges of the inner and the inner flanges of the outer beams. A pair of vertical beams on one side of the structure are placed opposite a pair on the other side andthe tops and bottoms of the outer beams are united by braces l7 extending across between them above the top and beneath the ,bottom of the structure;

The lower ends of beams 14 are secured by flanges 22 and bolts;23 to a heavy planking the space between'this planking and the base of timber 25, to .which the lower ends of beams 13 are similarly secured, as shown in the same figures, is closed I-beams 26.1 Consecutive tiers, one above the other and a: few feet apart, of horizontal walings or" ranges 18 are placed continuously along the sides a-nd across-the ends of the structure,

and a few inches outside of the Vertical beams 14 to which they are temporarily attached, as by bolts or otherwise. The lower tier of Walings 18 is placed so as to be on a level with theheavy planking 24. Between the tiers of walings 18 there are placed at intervals vertical braces 19 and tie-rods 20 and 'fixed rollers are secured to the inner upright faces of the walings opposite to and contiguous with the outer flanges of the vertical beams 14, and the few inches of space between the bottom of the lower tier of horizontal walings' and the bottom of the hori- Zontal planking 24, to which the beams 14 are secured, are closed by planks 26 placed under them and overlapping them both. Vertical planks of sheeting 27, the length of which is substantially equal to the depth of excavation required, are placed close together on the outside of the tiers of horizontal waling 18 to which they are temporarily tacked. In order to secure a good and water tight oint between the sections of this sheeting I have adopted the form of joint shown in Fig. 7, in which 43 is an iron or steel plate set in the edge of one section of sheeting and 44 are similar plates extending over a recess and secured to the edge of the opposite section'to form a socket in which a projection on the plate 43 may enter and slide when the two sections are associated. To support the sheeting and guide it while being driven, there are placed on the outer side tiers of horizontal walings 28, which are temporarily held in place by bolts passing through them, through the sheeting and the inner Walings 18. The insertion of the sheeting 27 may be postponed until after the structure is floated, the space therefor between the outer and inner tiers of walings being maintained by blocking inserted at intervals between the two. and its appurtenances as thus assembled is launched or floated, generally by sinking the float on which the parts described above were assembled, and towedto a point immediately over its intended site. A few piles 32 are then driven down through stufling boxes provided for them in the planking 24 for several feet into the material to be excavated, and collars 33, as shown at the left in Fig. 1, are se'ciiredto them by divers at the elevation to which it is intended to at first loiii'rth'e structure.

The buoyancy of the structure is overcome either by introducing into it loosely on its temporary flooring 4 a portion of the ma vtcrial that will be subsequently utilized to fill in the spaces between the floor beams. or

by permitting sufficient water to enter the same,- orby adding 'weight, in control. of der- ,ri'cks,onto the'stru'cture sufficient to sink it. Blocking 80'is placed at intervals on the 1 The structure Tmaterial to be excavated upon which the ,bottom plank-QG rests, and thestructure is in this way supported on the bottom. ,After the structure is alinedas nearly as possible,

the piles 10 are then driven for, afew' feet few feet into the material to, be excavated.

Simultaneously, air is pumped under the floor of the structure, which, as will be seen from the above description,-forms a substantially air-tight compartment, and suiticient water is permitted to enter the struc- 'ture itself to give it suflicient weight to withstand the pressure of air which it is necessary to have under the flooring. VVorkmen then descend from the surface, through the air-lock shaft 8 whichpasses throu'gh'stufling-boxes in the top and bottom ofv the structure, and excavate the material under the flooring.

This, is accomplished either by introducing water, as through a pipe 31, and pumping out the sand and mud therewith by the pump within the tunnel section, or by hoisting out the material in buckets through the air-lock shaft 8. H The material is thus excavated for a depth of several feet when walings 18, as shown in Figs. 2 and '3,

carried down into or previously stored in the compartment under the floor, are placed against the sheeting 27. They rnay be temporarily held in position by braces between them and the piles 32, and on their inner faces are fixed rollers corresponding to those above described. lVhen the excavation in mitted thereto through the pipes 31 or by I the removal of planks 26 this way has been completed, th e collars on the piles 10 and '32 are lowered to the level of the bottom walings, and water is ad- Forthis purpose the air. pressure under the flooris reduced, while that. in the structure is increased. The structure is caused to slowly slide down between the fixed rollers 2-1 on i the walings, and the vertical beams lat, until it rests upon the blocking or planking and collars prepared for its reception, and a water-tight compartment again formed by the stoppage of the narrow space between the walings and the planking. The water in this compartment under the floor is then forced up into the tunnel proper by decreasing the air pressure in the latter and increasing that under the floor. -The se operations cit-excavating. andlowering the structure are repeated until the excavated recess is of the. required depth, at which the structure is Q to permanently rest. If at such a time it is "beams 14 and the cross beams 17. adjustment of the wedges 15, or otherwise, the structure is then forced into exact alinebeams2. w I planking 37. When this has been done, air

10 and 32 are withdrawn or cut, or burned olf,' and the I-beams 13 and wedges removed whereupon the structure will be virtually afloat in the space between the vertical ment with the section previously in place.

When thishasbee'n done, air is pumped into the structure 'untilthe pressure is equal to. the hydrostatic pressure at the level of the temporary floor 4c. This floor is then lmoved and the pressure increased within the a structure until it equals the'hydrostatic pressure at the level'of its foundation, which is then prepared, a new water-tight flooring '35 laid on the cross-beam .17 and the spaces above the floor and between the horizontal I beams filled in with concrete and the structure completed. The horizontal planking 2411s then detached by divers from the beams 14:, thesheeting 27 drawn and all of the appliances'utilized'in the construction and installation of the tunnel removed or allowed tofloat' up. After each section oftun- :nel is completed the air-lock shafts 8 and 9 are removed The above is the complete method of installing a'single section of tunnel and no other .steps'areneces'sary where theentire structure consists .of but a single section. In case,-however, that the finished structure is made upof two or more such sections, provision must be made for connecting them together into an integral whole. This feature of my invention is illustrated in Figs.

2, 3, 9, 10 and 11. As soon as a section is completed and in readiness to be connected with another, divers build a plank bulk-head 4.0, Fig. 3, out from the side walls ,ofthe section to the main sheetings 27. The outer surface of these bulkheads 40 are built on a true plane with the bulkhead 12 at the end of the section. 'In lieu of the beams and walings, which are necessary at the outer ends of the sections, and which are removed after the bulkheads4O have been built, I

use an angle iron 41 which is secured hori-, zontally across the face of the bulkheads 12 and i0, upon whichthe bottom of the end of the new section rests as shown in Fig.9. This 'angle ron is removed and attached to the bulkheads at lower levels as the material under the new section is excavated and the latter lowered. When the new section islowered to subgrade and put in alinement, the bulkheads 40 are removed, and the side and top planking 4 at the ends of the abuts.

ting sectionsare joined together with planking 37 and 39 bolted together, as shown in Fig. 11, which is slipped over the flanges of adjacent steel uprights 1 and transverse roof Planking 36 is then pinned to By the i found not to be in true alinement, the piles under pressure. is introduced between the bulkheads of the sections, the latter are rethe union of the sections.

When a tunnel or sewer is to be con structed on shore, and where the material to which retains the banks ofthe excavation.

be excavated is water-bearing, the procedure above described will be modified somewhat to meet the change of conditions involved. In such cases the structure and its appurtenances above set forth are assembled above the surface of the water in the ground to be excavated, and the space below the water level between the driven sheeting 27 and the structure, as well as that over the latter, as it is lowered into the ground, is kept filled withwater up to the level of the water in the ground outside of the sheeting, but as this supply of water must not be permitted to flow in under the sheeting, it may have to be brought from an outside source. -When the depth of the excavation below the level of the outside water is greater than the height of the structure, through-bracing be tween the walings on the opposite sides must be introduced over the structure, but otherwise the procedure is the same as that for subaqueous tunnels described above.

The invention herein set forth constitutes a radical departure from the established practice and methods heretofore adopted and presents many advantages which none of the latterpossess. In the building of subaqueoustunnels it permits the excavation,whatever the materiahtobeeflected at a much less cost than it can be done in any other way. The quantity of material to be removed is reduced to a, minimum, and. if it be soft, it may be pumped out instead of being dug and hoisted to the surface. 'The possibility of placing the pumps in the water-tight compartments or sections of the structure at a depth perhaps many feet below the surface ofv the water, increases their efliciency many fold, because of the hydrostatic pressure due to the depth operating to force material into the pumps, [whereby there will be amuchlarger percentage of material carried along with the water through the pump than if the latter had only the vacuum which it creates to draw material to and into itself. In case where rock is' encountered, it may be unwatered and blasted and then excavated at a much lower cost than by the ordinary methods;

In the building of tunnels or sewers in streets between buildings, the foundations of which reston sand or water-bearing material, the tunnel structuremay be carried to a level well below that of the foundations without disturbing either the sand or the.

water in the material outsidelof the sheeting safe and sure method of making an exca- Vvationto any depth under one hundredfeet.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The method of constructing subaqueous 7o tunnels whichconsists insinking the same in partially completed condition on to the material to be excavated and over the position which it is tooccupy, undermining and removing the material under and around the same, gradually lowering the structure into theexcavatedspace to the desired level, and floating it at such level into the exact position in which it is to permanently rema1n.

I 2. The method of constructing subaqueous tunnels which consists in sinking the same in partially completed condition on to the material to be excavated and over the position which it is to. occupy, driving sheeting around the structure to form a water-tight compartment under the same, excavating the material within the sheeting, lowering the structure to the desired level, and then floating it within the sheeting to the exact position. in which it is to permanently remain.

3. The'method of constructing subaqueous tunnels which consists in sinking partially completed lengths of the same on to the material to be excavated and over the positions which each is to occupy, excavating the material, under and around the'lengths, gradu ally lowering each length into the excavated space to the desired level, floating it into exact alinement with the length previously completed, and uniting it thereto. 4. The method of constructing subaqueous tunnels which consists in sinking the same in partially completed sectional lengths to the material to be excavated over the posi-' tions which each is to occupy, driving sheeting around each section and forming a water tight compartment under the same, excavating the material within the sheeting, lowering the sections into such space tothe desired level, then floating the sections with ,in the sheeting into exact alinement with the'previously completed section and uniting it thereto.

5. The method of constructing subaqueous tunnels which consists in sinking a partially completed section of the same onto the material to be excavated over the position which it is to occupy, driving sheeting around the same, and forming thereby a water-tight compartment under it, guiding the section through the sheeting when the material within the same has been excavated, and floating it into alinement with the previously completed section when it has reached the desired level.

6. The method of constructing a sectional subajqueous tunnel, which consists in sinking H a partially completed section on to the material to be excavated over the position which it is to occupy, driving sheeting around the section and forming under the section within the sheeting a water-tight compartment, excavating into such compartment, lowering the section into the same until it reaches the proper level, releasing the section from the pressure on the sheet ing and floating it into alinement with a previously completed section, and uniting it to the same.

7. The method of constructing a sectional subaqueous tunnel which consists in sinking a partially completed section onto the material to be excavated over the position which it is to occupy and supporting it in such position by piling, driving sheeting around the section and forming under the same a water-tight compartment, excavating into such compartment, lowering the section into the same step by step until it reaches the, desired level, Withdrawing the piling and floating the section into alinement with a previously completed section and uniting it thereto.

8. The method of constructing a sectional subaqueous tunnel, which consists in sinking each partially completed section successively onto the material to be excavated over the position which it is to occupy and support ing it at such level by piling, driving sheeting around it and forming under it a watertight compartment, excavating into such compartment, lowering the section into the same step by step as the excavation proceeds until it has reached the desired level, withdrawing the piling, floating the section into alinement with a previously completed section, uniting the sections, and removing the sheeting.

9. The method of constructing a sectional subaqueous tunnel, which consists in sinking each partially completed section successively onto the material to be excavated over the position which it is to occupy, and supporting it at such level by piling, driving sheeting around it and forming under it a water-tight compartment, excavating into such compartment, lowering the section into the same step by step as the excavation proceeds, until it has reached the desired level, then floating the section into alinement with a previously completed section,

tween the structure and the sheeting suflicient water to equal the pressure from the water on the outside of the sheeting.

11. The method of constructing a sectional subaqueous tunnel which consists in sinking sections of the same into receptacles formed by sheeting driven into the material to be excavated, forming in such receptacles a water-tight compartment under each section, excavating into such compartment, lowering the section step by step therein and admitting such water theretowhen the section has reached the desired depth to float the section into exact alinement with an- I other previously completed.

. 12. The method of constructing a sectional subaqueous tunnel which consists in driving sheeting into the material to be ex cavated around all four sides of a section and forming under the section a water tight compartment from which the material may be excavated, the sheeting being at such dis tance from the section as to leave a water space between it and the said section. I

13. The method of constructing subaqueous tunnels, which consists in sinking a partially completed section of the same onto the material to be excavated over the position which it is to occupy, placing sheeting around the same, guiding the section between the walls of sheeting when the material within the same has been excavated, and floating it into alinement with the previously completed section when it has reached the desired level.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DUNCAN D. MoBEAN. Witnesses:

M. LAWSON DYER, THOMAS J. BYRNE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents eachQby addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

